Making a Better Battery- Battery Challenge (Part II) By: Wei Song Lim Hypothesis If temperature affects the flow of electricity, then frozen or cold water would decrease the flow of electricity because the electrons will be slowed down and hot or warm water will speed up or increase the flow of electricity because the electrons will be moving faster than at room temperature. Variables Independent Variable: The temperature of the salt water. Dependent Variable: Amount/concentration of salt, the volume of water in each cup, and Room temperature. Materials
5 plastic cups.
Tape.
Marker.
Freezer/ fridge.
Alligator clips (2 minimum).
Hot plate/ hot water dispenser.
5 copper metals and 5 aluminum metals.
Stirring stick/ Spatula.
1 Big beaker.
Multimeter/voltmeter.
Termometer
Procedure By: Wei Song Lim and Alexi Msays. A)First, label every cup (5 in total): #1
Frozen water, #2Cold water, #3
Room temperature water, #4Warm water, and #5Hot water. B)Fill the cups according to the labels, with 90mL of salt water. (You will have to fill cup #1 with salt water and put it in the freezer with the two metals: copper and aluminum, a day before you start the experiment.) Also, put cup #2 into the fridge a day before you do the experiment. Make sure that the two metals are not touching each other.
C)When you fill cups # 4 & 5 heat the salt water up to 80 degrees and fill up cup number 5. Then wait for 2 minutes then fill up cup #4.
D)Using alligator clips, connect both of the metals in the cup to the multimeter to find out and record the amount of voltage/ current there is. Have one person fill in the chart as you do the experiment. Repeat this step for each individual cup.
Diagram
By: Wei Song Lim
Graphs and Tables
by: Alexi Msays and Wei Song Lim
Cup Number
Type of salt water
Temperature
Voltage (amps)
Ranking (<)
1
Frozen
-17 degree celcius
0.525
5
2
Cold
10.5 degree celcius
0.540
4
3
Room temperature
19 degree celcius
0.561
3
4
Warm
34 degree celcius
0.599
2
5
Hot
66 degree celcius
0.777
1
Evaluation and Conclusion
By: Wei Song Lim
According to the data that we recorded in our experiment, I can conclude that temperature DOES affect the flow of electricity. Looking at the table and graph above, it tells us that the lower the temperature, the fewer amps or volts are able to flow. Whereas the higher the temperature, the flow of electricity becomes faster than that of a lower temperature.
One of the data that was collected is not totally true or valid. Due to a communication mishap, we forgot to put the two metals into cup number one when it was put into the freezer. Therefore, we had to improvise by using ice water instead of frozen water to measure the amount of current present. Hence, one way to improve this experiment would be to make sure that the two metals are in the cup when it is being put into the freezer. Also, another thing I would do to improve this experiment would be to record the amount of salt that was added into our solution, for if someone else wanted to do this experiment, he or she might add more or less salt, henceforth getting different results. But other than that, our experiment can be deemed a success. This is because we managed to keep all the variables except the independent variable constant; we were also able to prove our hypothesis to be a valid statement. This would mean that if you want to create a battery that can reach it maximum potential it is better to have hot or warm salt water than it is to have cold or frozen salt water.
Evaluation and Conclusion/diagram
By: Alexi Msays
After completing this experiment I had come to a final conclusion that the hotter the temperature is, the easier the current flows and you produce more amps (Vice Versa). This supports my previous hypothesis that states that temperature affects electricity, the colder the less of it, the hotter the more of it. When we started this experiment I honestly thought that it would be a disaster because the first class we couldn’t think of a proper experiment to conduct. Finally and miraculously Wei Song and I thought of a brilliant scientific experiment in which we would test how current flowed through different temperatures of water. Everything went well until I forgot to place the metals in the frozen salt water for our frozen water trial. This was a minor set back that we easily corrected by crushing the ice and then placing the metals in there till they were freezing cold and we then measured the voltage. I was pleased when we finally completed our scientific experiment to make batteries because when we started it we thought it would be a disaster, and it was at some parts, but in the end everything pulled together. This experiment was a “great success!”
By: Wei Song Lim
Hypothesis
If temperature affects the flow of electricity, then frozen or cold water would decrease the flow of electricity because the electrons will be slowed down and hot or warm water will speed up or increase the flow of electricity because the electrons will be moving faster than at room temperature.
Variables
Independent Variable: The temperature of the salt water.
Dependent Variable: Amount/concentration of salt, the volume of water in each cup, and Room temperature.
Materials
Procedure By: Wei Song Lim and Alexi Msays.
A) First, label every cup (5 in total): #1
Frozen water, #2Cold water, #3
Room temperature water, #4Warm water, and #5Hot water.
B) Fill the cups according to the labels, with 90mL of salt water. (You will have to fill cup #1 with salt water and put it in the freezer with the two metals: copper and aluminum, a day before you start the experiment.) Also, put cup #2 into the fridge a day before you do the experiment. Make sure that the two metals are not touching each other.
C) When you fill cups # 4 & 5 heat the salt water up to 80 degrees and fill up cup number 5. Then wait for 2 minutes then fill up cup #4.
D) Using alligator clips, connect both of the metals in the cup to the multimeter to find out and record the amount of voltage/ current there is. Have one person fill in the chart as you do the experiment. Repeat this step for each individual cup.
Diagram
By: Wei Song Lim
Graphs and Tables
by: Alexi Msays and Wei Song Lim
Evaluation and Conclusion
By: Wei Song Lim
According to the data that we recorded in our experiment, I can conclude that temperature DOES affect the flow of electricity. Looking at the table and graph above, it tells us that the lower the temperature, the fewer amps or volts are able to flow. Whereas the higher the temperature, the flow of electricity becomes faster than that of a lower temperature.
One of the data that was collected is not totally true or valid. Due to a communication mishap, we forgot to put the two metals into cup number one when it was put into the freezer. Therefore, we had to improvise by using ice water instead of frozen water to measure the amount of current present. Hence, one way to improve this experiment would be to make sure that the two metals are in the cup when it is being put into the freezer. Also, another thing I would do to improve this experiment would be to record the amount of salt that was added into our solution, for if someone else wanted to do this experiment, he or she might add more or less salt, henceforth getting different results. But other than that, our experiment can be deemed a success. This is because we managed to keep all the variables except the independent variable constant; we were also able to prove our hypothesis to be a valid statement. This would mean that if you want to create a battery that can reach it maximum potential it is better to have hot or warm salt water than it is to have cold or frozen salt water.
Evaluation and Conclusion/diagram
By: Alexi Msays
After completing this experiment I had come to a final conclusion that the hotter the temperature is, the easier the current flows and you produce more amps (Vice Versa). This supports my previous hypothesis that states that temperature affects electricity, the colder the less of it, the hotter the more of it.
When we started this experiment I honestly thought that it would be a disaster because the first class we couldn’t think of a proper experiment to conduct. Finally and miraculously Wei Song and I thought of a brilliant scientific experiment in which we would test how current flowed through different temperatures of water. Everything went well until I forgot to place the metals in the frozen salt water for our frozen water trial. This was a minor set back that we easily corrected by crushing the ice and then placing the metals in there till they were freezing cold and we then measured the voltage. I was pleased when we finally completed our scientific experiment to make batteries because when we started it we thought it would be a disaster, and it was at some parts, but in the end everything pulled together. This experiment was a “great success!”